Lin Que had seen through the woman’s lie from the very beginning.
According to the records, the various major sects had long since shelved this matter over the years. How could a Dao sect suddenly appear out of nowhere to specifically launch another campaign against the evil flood dragon?
As for Jiang Moqing’s move, it wasn’t because she had also detected the problem. It was simply because Lin Que had acted.
She trusted him completely, without reservation. That was why, after only a brief moment of surprise, she immediately followed up with a finishing strike.
And just after Lin Que called out that line, a harsh, grating laugh suddenly echoed from within the swamp.
“Hehehe… After so many years, it’s rare to have visitors. As the host, I should naturally offer you proper hospitality.”
With those words, a flood dragon six zhang wide and over a hundred zhang long burst from the swamp and soared into the sky, coiling within the hazy miasma.
It was the very same flood dragon that had been “besieged” moments ago. And at its side, aside from the late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator who had been slain by Lin Que and Jiang Moqing, not a single other person had died.
Peak Nascent Soul. Exactly as recorded in the archives.
“What a pity about my puppet. On your first visit, you go and break someone else’s toy. How terribly rude of a guest. As compensation… why don’t you stay here forever?”
The evil flood dragon cackled, its laughter sending ripples through the surrounding miasma.
“Junior Brother, I’ll handle the flood dragon. I’ll leave the rest to you.”
With that, Jiang Moqing vanished in a flash, reappearing before the flood dragon as her sword slashed downward in a single stroke…only for the blade to be blocked by its scales.
“Hehehe… As expected of a sword cultivator. Never one to waste words.”
The evil flood dragon appeared completely at ease, still indulging in idle chatter.
In the next instant, man and dragon clashed. Razor-sharp sword qi streaked across a thousand zhang, crisscrossing the sky. The swamp below was sliced into more than a hundred fragments, gouged into ravines so deep they seemed bottomless, and for a time even the mire could not close itself back together.
The other cultivators who were referred to as “puppets” moved to assist, only to be barred by a sword wrapped in iron chains, still sheathed, stretched horizontally across their path.
The one holding it was a tall, straight-backed young man. At this moment, a trace of pity actually surfaced in his expression.
“Soul-binding… that’s a forbidden evil art. Trapped here for so many years, it must have been agonizing. Don’t worry. I’ll grant you release soon.”
Perhaps because of his own experience with imprisonment, Lin Que felt a faint sense of empathy toward these puppets whose souls had been shackled. As a result, he spoke a few more words than usual.
Naturally, the puppets offered no reply. They merely summoned their respective magic treasures and spirit swords, launching a coordinated assault on Lin Que.
Just like when they had besieged the flood dragon earlier, their cooperation was flawless. The sword cultivators engaged him at close range, entangling and restraining him, while the Daoist cultivators remained in the rear, deploying magical artifacts to seal off his movements.
However,
The gap in strength between the two sides was absolute. Already lacking the late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to anchor their formation, they were no match for Lin Que.
He paid no heed to their formation at all. With a single stroke, he slew the frontline sword cultivator who sought to pin him down. Before the Daoist cultivators in the rear could even raise a proper defense, another slash ended their lives.
It was the very embodiment of the saying: no matter how many schemes you use, I will break them all with a single sword.
After the “puppets” were cut down, wisps of white mist rose from their bodies, gradually condensing into vague human silhouettes. Lin Que cupped his fists in salute, and in the end, they dispersed into heaven and earth.
Those were the souls that had been detained within them.
“How pitiful.”
Lin Que let out a sigh, then turned to the hazy miasma behind him and spoke leisurely, “You stabbed so many of your fellow disciples in the back and watched them march to their deaths. Aren’t you going to show yourself and say something?”
As his words fell, the sound of applause came from within the miasma. A handsome man soon appeared within the range of Lin Que’s spiritual perception.
“I didn’t expect a mere Core Formation cultivator to kill so many of my kin. Truly, the younger generation is to be feared.”
“I merely granted them release. Next, I’ll seek justice for them,” Lin Que said calmly.
“Hah, confidence is a good thing in the young. But if you can’t see reality clearly, that’s just blind arrogance.” The man only smiled, carrying himself with the composure of someone in complete control.
Lin Que ignored his words and instead posed a question.
“Before I kill you, there are a few things I’m curious about. I hope you can answer them. Did you kill so many of your fellow disciples simply to cultivate that evil art?”
“What else? With the notoriety of Evil Dragon Pool and the Evil Flood Dragon as cover, no one would know I was cultivating a forbidden art here. Those old fools would hesitate and weigh their options, perhaps even let the matter drop altogether. As it turns out, I guessed right.”
“Makes sense.”
Lin Que nodded. “But why did you spare that middle-stage Nascent Soul female cultivator? Could it be that a depraved demonic cultivator like you still retains a shred of humanity?”
At this question, the man’s smiling expression gradually darkened.
“So it seems you did quite a bit of homework before coming to Evil Dragon Pool. But… you’re asking a few too many questions.”
“I couldn’t very well charge in like some hotheaded fool without knowing anything.”
Lin Que shrugged. In the next instant, he pointed his sword at the demonic cultivator’s head. “If you’re unwilling to answer, then forget it. Let’s begin.”
The moment he finished speaking, his figure vanished from where he stood. The demonic cultivator’s heart tightened, and he abruptly retreated a hundred zhang before forming a hand seal that conjured a formation intertwined with countless vengeful souls.
Just as the formation took shape, a sheathed long sword wrapped in iron chains slashed down upon it. The array of resentful spirits let out a piercing wail before being cleaved apart in a single stroke.
The hand the demonic cultivator had used to form the seal was also cut, leaving a streak of blood. He had no choice but to cast several more formations made of vengeful souls to stall Lin Que’s advance.
Only then did he barely manage to withdraw to a relatively safe distance.
A bead of cold sweat slid down his temple, and the way he looked at Lin Que no longer carried the same composure as before.
Was this really the speed of a Core Formation cultivator?
“With such sword intent, you shouldn’t be at the Core Formation stage!” The demonic cultivator stared at Lin Que as if he had seen a ghost.
“It seems your years hiding in Evil Dragon Pool weren’t wasted. If I’m not mistaken, that Evil Dragon was refined by you long ago. And your current cultivation… has already reached the Soul Transformation stage, hasn’t it?”
Lin Que’s expression did not change much.
After all, if he were merely a demonic cultivator of the Enlightenment Path at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, there was no way he could have survived that sudden strike.
“Hehehe… since you’ve seen through it, there’s nothing left for me to hide.”
The demonic cultivator sneered a few times. “This technique of mine doesn’t just bind souls and lock spirits. It can also refine the cultivation of those I kill and make it my own. And now, I have already reached the Soul Transformation stage!”
As he spoke, he no longer concealed his aura. A pressure belonging to the Soul Transformation realm burst forth.
Even Jiang Moqing, who was battling the Evil Dragon in the distance, was affected by the pressure and froze for a brief moment. Her pupils shrank sharply, and she immediately rushed toward Lin Que’s position.
“Junior Brother!”
With a Soul Transformation cultivator appearing, the situation was clearly no longer something she could control. Her first thought was to take Lin Que and retreat. Even if she had to sacrifice herself, she would ensure his escape.
However,
Lin Que waved his hand, signaling Jiang Moqing to put her mind at ease.
“Senior Sister, just focus on slaying the flood dragon. Leave this person to me.”
Fighting an opponent at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm like the Evil Dragon might allow Jiang Moqing, who sought the Dao through action, to gain insight and break through. It could well be an opportunity.
“But…” Jiang Moqing wanted to say more, yet Lin Que cut her off.
“Trust me.”
Just those three simple words calmed her expression. It seemed that as long as Lin Que said them, there was nothing to fear.
“Alright.” Jiang Moqing said no more and turned back once again to engage the pursuing flood dragon in battle.
Seeing this, the demonic cultivator frowned.
“You… why are you not afraid of me?”
“Soul Transformation is nothing to fear.”
Lin Que shrugged, and at some point, the hand holding his sword had shifted from his left to his right.
The moment he switched to holding the sword in his right hand, his entire bearing seemed to change. If his sword intent had previously been like a mountain rising sheer from the earth, then now it was like a lake without a single ripple.
“Good, good, good! How arrogant! To challenge Soul Transformation with only Core Formation cultivation. Throughout history, I’m afraid there has never been another case like this!”
The demonic cultivator burst into wild laughter and continued staring at Lin Que. “I had planned to lie low a while longer and reveal myself only after stabilizing my realm. I didn’t expect to run into you first. All the better…let me test the might of the Soul Transformation stage!”
With that, he stopped holding back and unleashed all his magic treasures at once. In an instant, four treasures emitting dense, seething resentment appeared around him.
From one gourd-shaped treasure poured out countless vengeful spirits, blotting out the sky in the blink of an eye. The resentful aura was so thick it could even assimilate the miasma itself. The entire Evil Dragon Pool trembled!
A Soul Transformation cultivator dealing with a Core Formation opponent should not have needed such an overwhelming display. Yet instinct told the demonic cultivator that the young man before him was strange…so strange that he had no choice but to go all out to kill him.
The skyful of vengeful spirits fell upon Lin Que like a torrential downpour, swarming around him and letting out heart-rending, shrill howls.
Those howls alone would have been enough to make an ordinary Core Formation cultivator bleed from all seven orifices and die on the spot.
Yet Lin Que remained completely unaffected.
The demonic cultivator formed another incantation. Taking advantage of the cover provided by the vengeful spirits, two more flying sword treasures shot toward Lin Que in an instant, aiming straight for his heart and head. It was a vicious move beyond measure.
Faced with the demonic cultivator’s full-force assault, Lin Que merely spat out the Miasma-Avoiding Pill from his mouth.
He closed his eyes, neither dodging nor evading. His heart was calmer than ever before, as if nothing in heaven or earth could affect him any longer.
The two flying swords arrived in an instant. One of them had already pressed against his forehead, on the verge of piercing his skin.
However,
In that very instant, a streak of cold light flashed, and the color of the entire world changed.
The demonic cultivator’s pupils contracted sharply. The sky-covering vengeful spirits, the flying swords, even the miasma-shrouded Evil Dragon Pool….everything within his sight vanished, and was replaced by a boundless expanse of pure white emptiness.
When the world before his eyes returned to normal, the first thing he saw was the azure sky.
For a brief moment, he felt a trace of emotion.
After all, the Evil Dragon Pool was shrouded in miasma year-round. It had been a long time since he had seen such a clear and pristine sky.
In the next second, the demonic cultivator froze. He suddenly realized that he was still within the Evil Dragon Pool and only a moment ago had been fighting that Core Formation youth to the death. But why now…
The demonic cultivator lowered his head, only to discover that at some point his body had already been cleaved apart. The miasma that had coiled around the Evil Dragon Pool for many years had also been swept away completely.
Before him, Lin Que stood in midair, a sword in his right hand, looking down at him from above. His expression was calm, like a sword immortal untouched by joy or sorrow.
Coughing up a mouthful of blood, the demonic cultivator lost all will to resist. Lin Que’s nameless strike had already severed every trace of his life force. Now, he could not even lift a single finger.
“Since I answered one of your questions, allow me to ask you one as well.”
“Go ahead,” Lin Que replied calmly.
“After the incident at Evil Dragon Pool all those years ago, what became of the surviving female cultivator?”
“She didn’t die, but her Dao heart was shattered and her mind broken. I’m afraid she doesn’t have many years left to live,” Lin Que answered truthfully, with no intention of hiding anything.
“So it ended that way after all…”
A bitter smile appeared on the demonic cultivator’s face. “If I had possessed your strength back then, perhaps things wouldn’t have…”
He let out a sigh and did not continue. Instead, he simply looked at Lin Que and asked one final question.
“What sword technique was that?”
“That’s already your second question… Forget it.”
Seeing the aura around him steadily fading, Lin Que sighed. “This strike originally had no name, but someone named it for me. It’s called One Sword, Cold Light.”
“One Sword, Cold Light? That’s a fine name.”
The demonic cultivator smiled faintly, as if trying to take something from his chest, but failed. He truly could not move even a single finger now.
“As an exchange, I’ll tell you something as well… Have you ever wondered where the demonic art on my chest came from? I’ll tell you. I found it in an underground chamber of the Tianyan Dao Sect. It was likely arranged there by one of the elders. Heh… I refuse to believe that elder wouldn’t make use of something so valuable.”
Clinging to his final breath, he said to Lin Que, “If even an elder of a top orthodox sect in the Eastern Region would secretly stash a demonic cultivation method, then what of the other sects? Hahaha… I’ve said my piece. What you choose to do next is up to you.”
With that, the demonic cultivator died without even closing his eyes.
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